driver positions through the laps

2018 Italian Grand Prix

The 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship is an ongoing motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Drivers and teams are competing in twenty-one Grands Prix for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championship titles.

Lewis Hamilton is defending his World Drivers' Championship, after winning his fourth championship title at the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix. His team, Mercedes, are the defending Constructors' Championship, having secured their fourth consecutive title at the 2017 United States Grand Prix. After one round, Sebastian Vettel leads Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship by seven points. Kimi Räikkonen is third, a further three points behind. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari lead Mercedes by eighteen points, with Red Bull Racing third.

A revision of the sport's technical regulations means that a new cockpit protection device—commonly known as the "halo"—was introduced for the 2018 championship. The introduction of the halo in Formula One is the first stage of a planned roll-out that would see the device adopted in all FIA-sanctioned open-wheel racing series by 2020.

news

2018-09-03 Mercedes seeking answers to Ferrari speed conundrum

Ferrari has a slight power advantage at the moment, and its performance has been further boosted by an energy deployment characteristic that allows it to accelerate much better out of corners. That speed edge in the early phase of straights prompted questions from Mercedes earlier this year about the legality of Ferrari’s double battery system, but the FIA has given the Italian team the ... ...

Despite the complexity of Formula 1’s rule book, and the intense battle between teams, it is quite rare for post-race protests to take place these days. Formal complaints are more often used as a threat and rarely followed through, with talk earlier this season of Mercedes’ unease about Ferrari’s battery system not getting as far as the stewards' room. That is why the paddock and fans ... ...

Alonso drew the ire of Kevin Magnussen earlier in the weekend by trying to pass the Dane during a crucial moment in qualifying – and then left Gasly incensed with a robust defence in the race. The Spaniard will leave F1 at the end of the season, and Gasly claimed this has impacted the two-time champion's driving, while also suggesting Alonso had a bone to pick with the Honda-powered Toro ... ...

The Formula 2 front runner has impressed the team with his recent runs in free practice sessions and has won the battle to become Carlos Sainz’s teammate. The announcement about his plans comes shortly after McLaren revealed that it is not retaining Stoffel Vandoorne for 2019. Norris has been part of the McLaren young driver programme since 2017, having won a host of junior categories in ... ...

Vandoorne has endured a difficult second season paired alongside Fernando Alonso, and McLaren has now decided to part ways with the Belgian after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “We’re immensely thankful for Stoffel’s dedication, hard work and commitment during his time at McLaren,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown. “He’s a talented racing driver with an incredible list of accolades in his ... ...

Pierre Gasly move to Red Bull Racing in place of Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo and Brendon Hartley’s uncertain long-term future mean that Toro Rosso will have at least one vacancy next season. Facing a lack of qualified candidates in its own junior programme, Red Bull has been considering a number of other options, including McLaren’s Lando Norris. One of the problems it faces is that ... ...

As revealed by Motorsport.com earlier this year, Marchionne’s support of Leclerc meant the Monegasque had a serious chance of getting promoted to Ferrari after just one season of grand prix racing. But such a move seemed to have cooled in the wake of Marchionne’s death, as his replacement as Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri is a close friend of Raikkonen and wanted to see if the Finn’s ... ...

After Vettel saw another race win opportunity wrecked at the Italian Grand Prix when he spun after a clash with Hamilton on the first lap, the German is now facing a 30-points deficit to his Mercedes rival. And following a costly Baku lock-up, the first-corner incident with Valtteri Bottas in France and his crash in Germany, Ferrari will need no reminding about the points that have been thrown ... ...

Hamilton comes off best from Vettel clash Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H makes contact with Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W09 Photo by: Manuel Goria / Sutton Images It didn’t take long for the world title contenders to make contact, and just three corners into the race Vettel hit Hamilton’s sidepod and the Roggia chicane and spun around, as the Mercedes man escaped without ... ...

Following a protest lodged by Renault about the Frenchman's car immediately after the race at Monza, the race stewards asked the FIA's F1 technical delegate to investigate the case. A statement issued by the stewards said that the floor of the car was in breach of the rules, as it did not comply with the regulations. "The reference plane of car number 08 is found not to be in compliance with ... ...

Following a protest lodged by Renault about the Frenchman's car immediately after the race at Monza, the race stewards asked the FIA's F1 technical delegate to investigate the case. A statement issued by the stewards said that the floor of the car was in breach of the rules, as it did not comply with the regulations. "The reference plane of car number 08 is found not to be in compliance with ... ...

Ricciardo had just passed Sergey Sirotkin's Williams for 11th place, having worked his way up from a back-row start at Monza, when he was forced to pull off the circuit with smoke pouring out of his Red Bull. The Australian driver had Renault's new Spec C engine fitted ahead of the weekend, which the French manufacturer said would be worth three tenths of a second in laptime but carried a ... ...

Bottas had trailed Verstappen for third place throughout the opening stint, and the Dutchman was warned for gaining an advantage by cutting across Turn 1 under pressure from his rival early on. Mercedes then opted to leave Bottas out to hold up race leader Kimi Raikkonen and allow eventual winner Lewis Hamilton to close in before Bottas finally pitted from the lead on lap 36 of 53. Bottas ... ...

Alonso pulled into the pits on the ninth lap at Monza after his electronics shut down while he was running in 10th position. It was the Spaniard's sixth retirement of the season, with five of those caused by reliability issues. "I think it's a shame because sometimes we were in the points, like we were in this grand prix, and the reliability of the team seems to have made a step backwards ... ...

Raikkonen led a Ferrari 1-2 with teammate Sebastian Vettel in qualifying, but was left defending his lead from Mercedes driver Hamilton after Vettel spun while battling the Briton on the opening lap. Mercedes crucially left Hamilton's sole stop eight laps later than Ferrari and Raikkonen, and then kept Valtteri Bottas out longer to impede the race leader and allow Hamilton to close ... ...

Grosjean finished sixth at Monza, a result that elevated Haas above Renault into fourth in the constructors' championship. Renault scored two points for Carlos Sainz's ninth-place finish, but slipped behind its American rival, having been comfortably clear a few races ago. The FIA has summoned a team representative from both teams because of a "protest by Renault Sport Formula One Team ... ...

Hamilton qualified behind the Ferrari pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel, and remained in third place after going through the first chicane. But with Vettel boxed in behind Raikkonen on entry into Variante della Roggia, Hamilton moved ahead on the outside line. The pair clashed exiting the first part of the chicane, and Vettel spun, leaving Hamilton free to attack Raikkonen and eventually win ... ...

Vettel could only finish fourth at Monza having spun to the back when he made contact with Hamilton as the Mercedes went around his outside at the Roggia chicane on the opening lap. Hamilton then beat Vettel's Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen to victory and extended his championship lead to 30 points. "Lewis obviously saw a little gap around the outside," Vettel told Sky Sports F1. "But then ... ...

Hamilton overtook Vettel around the outside into the second chicane on the opening lap, and Vettel ran wide, hit the Mercedes and spun to the back. He charged through to finish fourth behind Valtteri Bottas, as a time penalty dropped Max Verstappen from the podium to fifth. Raikkonen maintained the lead despite pressure from Vettel and a lock-up into the first corner, before Hamilton drafted ... ...

The revamped Force India entry and F1 bosses are trying to get unanimous support for the Silverstone-based outfit to earn extra Column 1 prize money immediately – something new outfits normally have to wait two years for. Haas has refused to back such a move amid frustrations about why it had to race without Column 1 income for 2016 and 2017. Although in the past there have been times when ... ...

The issue of 'slave teams' came to a head during Force India’s period in administration, when Renault, McLaren and Williams all initially refused to sign a document allowing the team to keep its commercial rights. Read Also: Is F1 heading towards a 'slave team' future? They feared that under new ownership Force India would become closer to Mercedes, and wanted clarity on ... ...

McLaren announced in July that Key would be joining the team, much to the frustration of Red Bull, who insisted that he had a contract with Toro Rosso. The two parties had been talking about an early release for Key, but the announcement took Red Bull by surprise, and put a spanner in the works of the negotiations. There have been suggestions that Red Bull might be willing to do a deal that ... ...

Amid some frustrations about the lack of opportunities he has available for his junior drivers Esteban Ocon, George Russell and Pascal Wehrlein, Wolff has floated the idea of a radical shake-up of the rules. Rather than limiting teams to two cars as things stand currently, Wolff thinks that opening up the possibility for a third car – which had to be driven by a youngster – would be a good ... ...

Alonso and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen had a bizarre incident on their final flying laps in the second part of Italian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday when Alonso tried to overtake Magnussen into the Rettifilo chicane at the start of the lap. Magnussen had passed Alonso just before the Parabolica, and though they did not collide it did ruin both their laps and led Alonso to say: "There are ... ...

Bottas has trailed Hamilton all weekend and on his final run in Q3 he lapped 0.35s slower than the Briton, who will start one place ahead of him in third. That was Bottas’s smallest deficit to Hamilton in the dry all weekend, even though the Finn did not run in anybody’s slipstream on that last run. Bottas said: “It was almost all lost in the straights, compared to Lewis. “I also ... ...

2018-09-01 Mercedes says lack of seats could bring end to F1 junior scheme

The German car manufacturers' three youngsters – Esteban Ocon, George Russell and Pascal Wehrlein – are all facing an uncertain future, and Wolff has expressed some frustration with the struggles in securing available cockpits. With Mercedes ruling out the purchase a junior team just to school its young drivers – as Red Bull did with Toro Rosso – Wolff does not know how best to move ... ...

Perez appeared to be well inside the cut-off after the first runs in Q1 and the team thus elected to keep him in the garage to save tyres. However, while he sat in the car, he gradually slipped down the order – to eventually be squeezed out of 15th place by a margin of just 0.001s to Romain Grosjean. Less than a tenth of a second covered 10th to 17th places in an unusually tightly packed ... ...

Red Bull bosses Christian Horner and Helmut Marko praised Renault’s latest engine development after trials in Daniel Ricciardo’s car on Friday, and the new unit was fitted to Verstappen’s car too for final practice and qualifying. Verstappen qualified fifth for Sunday’s race at Monza, but was 1.496 seconds off the pace set by Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in Q3 and just over three tenths ... ...

Alonso tried to pass Magnussen round the outside into the first chicane on the final lap in Q2, but the pair ended up scrapping for position and ruining each other's laps as they both missed out on a Q3 berth. The two-time champion laughed off the encounter on team radio, and aimed derisive comments at Magnussen after the session – with the Haas driver now firing back. “I don't care to ... ...

Raikkonen is a distant third in the championship, 68 points behind Vettel and 85 adrift of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. But despite the points gap - and the frequent suggestions that Ferrari prioritises Vettel - the four-time world champion says he assumes Raikkonen will challenge for victory on Sunday. “If he is starting from pole I guess he is allowed to win,” said Vettel. “It is a ... ...

Just moments after celebrating over the radio as he briefly grabbed the top spot in Q3 at Monza, Vettel was informed by the team that he had ended up in second after being edged out by teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Replying over the team radio, Vettel said to the team: "We speak after." Clearly disappointed about missing out on pole, the most likely cause of any annoyance from Vettel would have ... ...

The pair got in each other's way in the final moments of the second segment, as Alonso got a run on Magnussen on the start-finish straight and attempted to overtake the Dane around the outside into the Rettifilo chicane. He was ahead entering the first part of the chicane, but Magnussen did not yield position – and both drivers' laps were compromised as Alonso ran out wide exiting the ... ...

The Ferrari driver was second fastest behind Lewis Hamilton on the first runs in the Q3 top 10 shootout, but while both drivers improved, Raikkonen outpaced the Mercedes driver. Sebastian Vettel briefly took top spot after crossing the line ahead of Raikkonen, before the Finn completed his lap to post a time 0.161s faster. Raikkonen's superb pace in the final sector - aided by a tow - was ... ...

With McLaren still undecided about who it wants to join Carlos Sainz next season, the team has been open that it is weighing up several options. Incumbent Stoffel Vandoorne, reserve driver Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon have all been openly talked about before, but Brown says that Perez is a fourth contender, even though he looks set to be unavailable. Speaking at Monza on Saturday, McLaren ... ...

Ricciardo took a complete set of new power unit elements on Friday, earning himself a spot on the back row. After a promising initial outing, the team has now followed up on its plan to give Max Verstappen a new V6 on Saturday. It’s only the third of the year for the Dutchman, so he doesn’t face a penalty. It’s understood that on the Renault dyno the Spec C performed better with ... ...

2018-09-01 Camilleri's first appearance hints at new Ferrari direction

Who can forget how newly appointed Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci was never really allowed to forget walking around the paddock on a grey day in Shanghai with his sunglasses stuck steadfastly to his head? It didn’t matter that he had wanted to cover his tired eyes after 30 hours stuck on a plane – the impression of a man putting fashion over function stuck in many people’s ... ...

Hamilton had the edge in the early part of the session before Vettel and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen improved, but the Mercedes driver was able to split the Ferraris on his final runs. The top three was covered by just 0.173s around the Monza circuit going into this afternoon's qualifying session. Early-morning rain was replaced by sunshine and the track was almost completely dry by the time ... ...

The benefits of the halo have become clear after Sauber driver Charles Leclerc escaped unhurt from a spectacular opening corner-crash in Belgium when his car was hit by Fernando Alonso’s wheel as it flew over the Sauber. The halo’s looks continue to attract criticism, however, and F1 race director Charlie Whiting said on Saturday that things are being worked on to improve it. “There is ... ...

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